Something About What You Carry Or Have Carried

 I'm a member of an online writing group, which gives its members a one-line prompt to star from to write, and then we all write furiously for twenty minutes before hearing the source of the line, usually a poem. I think this is one of the first:

Something About What You Carry Or Have Carried

“My brain hurts.”

“Aww, sweetie. Did you take your pills?”

“The usual ones: the blue one and the two aspirin. And I took the allegedly prophylactic pills at six, as prescribed.”

“Well, come here. Yes, really. Come rest your head on my shoulder. I’ll stroke your hair. Mmm, it’s getting so long, like it was when we were first together. Have some more water.”

“Headache shall be always with us. With me, anyway. Sometimes it’s like a thing of its own, dropping in to visit. Or maybe it’s always there, riding on my shoulder, maybe, and only brings itself to my attention from time to time.”

“Like a little guy with stubble on his chin whacking you with a hammer?”

“Heh. There’s the secret of our success again: I’m not old enough to have seen those ads for whatever that medication was, but I know about them anyway. I’ve seen him in old magazines, and parodied in Mad magazine reprint books. So I’m honorary old.

“Hold on a sec, let me get my water bottle. Yeah, now go back to stroking my hair. Feels so good.”

“Are you feeling better?”

“Starting to. Wow, it’s amazing how different I feel while you’re touching me. It hurts so much less.

“But I do wonder if there’s something else I could do about these headaches. Or this headache. The headache.”

“The great granddaddy of all headaches. I’m so sorry. I know it’s a burden on you. Mmm, I do like your hair like this.”

“It’s not all that much trouble. I could keep it this way if you want.

“I do like it when you stroke my head like that. Well, when you did stroke it. I sure do miss you. Everything reminds me of you, even my headache. It knew you, too.”

Source: Sharon Olds Late Poem To My Fatherhttps://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3Fdate=2005%252F11%252F17.html

The Magic Eight-Ball says, Write every day.

Don't Like Feeling Like This

My new doctor has been modulating my supplements and my diet, and various reactions have been noticeable, but the most conspicuous ones are not enjoyable ones.  In particular, on two well-separated occasions I have spent an entire day in a sort of waking faint, feeling as though I might keel over at any moment.
I will stick with this program for awhile yet, to see if these "bad" days stop, and whether it helps with my migraines.  I will withhold judgment.
Sure am glad I have this here sweetie to look after me....

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Hang in there awhile longer."\\

Go To The End of Jefferson Avenue, Then Stop

My physical therapist has prescribed 45 minutes of walking, daily.  I'd like to walk a different route every night, but I'm understandably starting to run out of them.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says,"Actually, you should go to the end of Jefferson Avenue and then turn around and go back."\\

It Feels Like There is Plastic on My Forehead

But it's really just the Botox at work.
No, not for vanity's sake -- I have a long list of things I'd worry about regarding my appearance before I would be concerned about wrinkles.
It's supposed to reduce the frequency and severity of migraines -- 100mg of Botox in my forehead and shoulders.
I'd really rather get a neck and shoulder massage every week, but then there are a lot of things I'd like to have.
It does seem to be working.  One way I can tell is that if I expend the energy to move my reluctant forehead muscles, I quickly feel the beginning of a headache.  Then I stop.
I'll be back in three months for another round of shots.  I'm going to ask for an anti-anxiety drug  to be prescribed for just before -- getting all those shots was a bit unnerving.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Outlook is Good."\\

Little Black Gloves

For the last few months, I have been wearing black thermal gloves with no fingertips.  They keep my hands warm, which is especially important for me because I have been diagnosed with an assortment of disorders which all tend to reduce circulation in my extremities.
I love these gloves.  They have become looser (they were originally skin-tight), and I need to buy new ones, but they make a huge difference in my quality of life.
Not only do they keep my hands warm, they also remind me to look after my hands.  They remind me, for instance, that I don't have to wash my hands with cold water -- I can wait for the stream to become hot.
//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Take care of yourself."\\

There Goes The Plum Tree

Our plum tree, which has dropped excessively-juicy plums onto the grass and sidewalk near the corner of 10th and Jefferson for far longer than I have lived here, is speeding up its decades-long process of falling over.  Its roots are tearing out of the ground, and its branches are touching the grass.

We will get plenty of big blue handle-carefully-they're-soft plums this year, but I think that will be it until one of the suckers coming up from its roots starts bearing.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "To everything there is a season."\\

A Bit Late, But . . .

I have decided to give up Facebook for Lent.  I will make a sincere effort not to go onto Facebook until Easter Sunday, an occasion I will otherwise not observe.
Persons who are genuinely interested in our current situation, especially Kathe's health, may visit this blog, or e-mail me at john_m_burt@hotmail.com

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Outlook is good."\\

Tinnitus

My tinnitus began in early childhood, in the form of occasional sustained notes (at the time, I thought I must be especially sensitive to noises from electronics), and an occasional loud noise, swelling rapidly and then fading rapidly, very much like feedback.

It evolved into a frequent sound like cicadas buzzing (and which I long thought was), and these days is a more or less constant chorus ranging from a sound rather like the leaking of air from an almost-blocked sinus to a large field of cicadas.  That nasty feedback noise seems to be gone for good, though (touch wood).

My recently taking a job in a noisy industrial environment probably isn't helping -- one more reason for me to find a new one ASAP. My hearing was never all that good, and I think the tinnitus is making that worse.

I am leery of taking the tinnitus medication called "Quietus".  I think Children of Men had it right about what sort of medication ought to have that name: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYy80trSPSI

//The Magic Eight-Ball says: "Don't be silly, try it and see if it helps."\\

Happy Anniversary, Kathe

I'm Ready to Beg, Folks

Unemployed for close to two years, nobody is hiring, my books aren't selling.

If you have not bought one of my publications, please consider it. I personally think The Christmas Mutiny is a good story. I also think highly of my short stories "Hansel and Gretel Lost in the Bardo", "The Men Who Saved JFK" and my manual on massage technique, With a Friendly Touch, all of which are available for download at Amazon.com.

For the next seven days, if you e-mail me at john_m_burt@hotmail.com or text me at (541) 602-6026 to inform me that you have bought one of my stories, I will reply with 1) my personal thanks and 2) my new story "Dragons Live Forever", a 375-word flash piece which has not yet been offered to the public.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "You can always ask."\\

Fortune Cookies

Kathe and I had a Chinese supper from Safeway. It was our first plausibly normal meal since her surgery. Did me a world of good, for sure.

My fortune: "What you will do matters. All you need is to do it." Okay.

Kathe's fortune: "Your happiness is before you, not behind you! Cherish it." I sure hope so.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "I suppose you noticed you were sitting right before her at the time...?"\\

Anne Adjusts

Anne Hiler, my father's sister and last of her generation, is adjusting to widowhood as well as can be expected.

My mother is with her, and Kathe and I are checking in with her.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "It's okay if that's all you have to say."\\

Good Cookies

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

I make them for Kathe and me to eat on the paper route.

Still wish I could find Becca's recipe card for the recipe I used to use.

Or ask Becca about it....

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "She loved her mother. And she loved you."\\

A New Post at My Massage Blog

You might find it of interest, especially if you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders just now.

http://johnmburtlmt.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-shoulder-well.html

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Don't we all?"\\

Happy Birthday, Walden

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Hold him in the Light."\\

Where Does It Hurt?

On my right side, near the lowest ribs, when I take a deep breath.

My left shoulder aches some days.

My right knee hurts occasionally, when weight-bearing.

My right shin hurts some days, with or without weight-bearing.

Both wrists ache occasionally. It doesn't feel the same as the hand pain that led me to have to wear hand braces at night and eventually to having surgery on one hand.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Watch and see how it changes."\\

Another Minor Loss

Awhile back at some web site or other, Kathe and I saw people discussing the moral blind spots of previous generations, and speculating on what our descendants might be appalled at our tolerating.

I'd like to nominate our persistence in pretending that dental and optical care somehow aren't health care, and shouldn't be covered on the same plan, or even at all.

Just the other day, Kathe told me that I couldn't have any more dental problems until she'd had some deferred maintenance taken care of on her own teeth. Alas, I woke up at 5:30 this morning with a toothache that hadn't gotten the memo.

A root canal and crown would have cost a thousand dollars we didn't have, so I got to have an extraction for $80. We didn't have the $80 either, but we might get it sometime relatively soon.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "At least it's over."\\